Techniques for communicating synchronization signal timing information

ABSTRACT

The described technology can be implemented as a wireless communication method in which timing information in a wireless communication network is mapped to a signal. The timing information includes information related to a synchronization signal block index and the signal includes at least one of a reference signal on a broadcast channel and a synchronization signal. The signal is transmitted by including at least a part of the information related to the synchronization signal block index.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/872,354, filed May 11, 2020, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/168,820, filed onOct. 23, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,652,064, which is a continuation ofInternational Patent Application No. PCT/CN2017/083344, filed on May 5,2017. The entire contents of the before-mentioned patent applicationsare incorporated by reference as part of the disclosure of thisdocument.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document relates to systems, devices and techniques for wirelesscommunications.

BACKGROUND

Efforts are currently underway to define next generation wirelesscommunication networks that provide greater deployment flexibility,support for a multitude of devices and services and differenttechnologies for efficient bandwidth utilization. For better bandwidthutilizations, techniques such as the use of multiple antennas fortransmission and/or reception are also being used.

SUMMARY

This document describes technologies, among other things, forcommunicating and using timing information related to a wirelesscommunications network.

In one example aspect, a method of wireless communications includesmapping timing information in a wireless communication network to asignal, wherein the timing information includes information related to asynchronization signal (SS) block index and the signal comprises areference signal on a broadcast channel, and/or a synchronizationsignal, and transmitting the signal to include at least a part of theinformation related to the SS block index.

In another example aspect, a method of wireless communications includesreceiving, by a receiving device, a signal comprising a mapping oftiming information in a wireless communication network, wherein thetiming information includes information related to a synchronizationsignal (SS) block index and the signal comprises a reference signal on abroadcast channel, and/or a synchronization signal, and recovering atleast a part of the SS block index from the signal.

In yet another example aspect, a wireless communications apparatuscomprising a memory, and a processor is disclosed. The memory isconfigured to store processor-executable code. The processor isconfigured to read the code and implement a method described herein.

In another example aspect, the various techniques described herein maybe embodied as processor-executable code and stored on acomputer-readable program medium.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying attachments, the drawings, and the description below. Otherfeatures will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a sequence of signal transmissions.

FIG. 2 shows an example transmission signal format.

FIG. 3 shows an example of mapping of a reference signal to transmissiontimes.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a transmission burst structure.

FIG. 5 shows an example mapping of a referee signal transmission tosymbols.

FIG. 6 shows an example of reference signal mapping to transmissionslots.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a transmission burst.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example wireless communication method.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example of a wireless communicationapparatus.

FIG. 11 shows an example wireless communications network.

FIG. 12 shows an example of an SS burst set.

FIG. 13 shows an example of an SS burst set with 20 msec periodicitywithin 80 ms PBCH TTI.

FIG. 14 shows an example of an SS burst set with 160 msec periodicityand 80 msec PBCH TTI.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Due to continuous progress in radio technology, a wide range of wirelessapplications are emerging, leading to a growth in wireless deployments.However, traditional technologies are falling short of meeting such anincreased demand on bandwidth. For example, some traditional commercialcommunications typically offer a maximum bandwidth of 300 MHz, which maynot be sufficient to meet the ever-increasing bandwidth demands. Thescarcity of the frequency spectrum is one problem that should beaddressed by new wireless communications technologies.

It has been proposed that some implementations of the next generationwireless communications may use higher frequency bands. For example,wireless communications may be carried out using a carrier frequencythat is higher than the carrier frequency used by the fourth generation(4G) communication system. Some example spectrum bands available forsuch communications may be in the range of 28 GHz, 45 GHz, 70 GHz, etc.Signals transmitted at such high frequencies experience significant freeair propagation loss, e.g., due to absorption by substances present inthe air, such as the atmospheric oxygen, rain water, etc. Such lossadversely impacts the high-frequency communications system coverageperformance. However, since the carrier frequency corresponding to thehigh frequency communication has a shorter wavelength, it is possible toensure that more antenna elements can be accommodated per unit area, anda proper use of more antenna elements enables beamforming by suchantenna elements to improve the antenna gain, which, in turn, canincrease the number of bits per Hertz per second that can becommunicated in the network.

As an illustrative example, the next generation 3GPP uses a mechanismcalled Synchronization Signal (SS) block for facilitating themulti-antenna communication. An SS block may be defined as a time unitwhich carries the primary synchronization sequence (PSS), the secondarysynchronization sequence (SSS) and/or physical broadcast channel (PBCH)corresponding to one or a set of beam(s) between a transmitter and areceiver. Multiplexing other signals (such as, beam-related referencesignal (RS), paging, data transmission) are not precluded within an SSblock. An SS burst may include one or more consecutive resources fornominal SS block(s) transmission. An SS burst set with a fixedperiodicity can include one or more SS bursts. There is one beam dutycycle in one SS burst set. A single set of possible SS block timepositions is specified per frequency band.

In the current version of the standard, the maximum number of SS-blocks,L, within SS burst set for different frequency ranges are as follows.

-   -   For a frequency range up to 3 GHz, the maximum number of        SS-blocks, L, within SS burst set is [1, 2, 4].    -   For a frequency range from 3 GHz to 6 GHz, the maximum number of        SS-blocks, L, within SS burst set is [4, 8].    -   For a frequency range from 6 GHz to 52.6 GHz, the maximum number        of SS-blocks, L, within SS burst set is [64].

The current standard discussion suggests using the physical broadcastchannel PBCH to indicate the timing information described above. Amongthem, implicit indication by PBCH is a potential way to implicit theindex information of the SS block in different SS blocks by differentPBCH processing methods (for example, cyclic shifts, scrambling code,Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) mask, redundancy version of the broadcastchannel).

In the high frequency band, it may be desirable to consider supportingup to 64 or more SS blocks. However, supporting for such a large numberof SS blocks can create some technical challenges. For example, it maybe difficult or impossible to rely solely on the PBCH to implicitlycarry the large amount of index information in the large number of SSblocks. In this regard, consider a PBCH which is typically 40-bit long,there are possibly only 40 unique cyclic shifts (1 bit shift interval).This number cannot meet the requirements of 64 or more different SSblock index. For another example on the other hand, this scheme ofsupporting such a large number of SS blocks will bring a huge overheadfor blindly decoding the PBCH to the mobile terminal, which may need totry 64 or more different configurations to decode PBCH.

The are no existing solutions in the current standard on how to reducethe overhead of the above methods, and how to reduce the capacityrequirements of the instructions in a next generation system such as theNew Radio (NR) specification.

The technology disclosed in this patent document can be implemented toaddress the above technical challenges in the NR technology and includestechniques for transmitting timing information in a new generationcommunication system, and corresponding techniques for receiving theinformation. Some embodiments of the disclosed technology may implementfeatures comprising: using a signal to carry at least part of thesynchronization signal block index related information. The signal maycomprise a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the physicalbroadcast channel, and / or a synchronization signal.

Based on the beamforming, a transmitter can concentrate its emissionenergy in a certain direction, while in other directions the energy issmall or absent, that is, each beam has its own directivity, and eachbeam can only cover to a terminal in a certain direction. Therefore, abase station may use a transmitter that can operate with beams invarious different directions, e.g., dozens or even hundreds ofdirections, to complete the full range of coverage within a cell. Someembodiments may be programmed to perform the measurement and recognitionof the preliminary beam direction during the initial access of thenetwork and to focus the base station side transmitting beam for a timeinterval for the terminal to identify the preferred beam or port.

Specifically, as shown in an example in FIG. 1, a SS burst set structureis used to transmit a synchronization signal, a sweeping resource of aphysical broadcast channel, wherein the SS burst set contains one ormore synchronization signal bursts (SS bursts). One SS burst containsone or more synchronization signal block (SS blocks), each SS blockcarrying a specific beam/port (group) of the synchronization signal. AnSS burst set may be used to enable a complete a beam scan, that is, allthe beam/port available for transmission. Among them, thesynchronization signal block may include other signals such as thephysical broadcast channel PBCH, the PBCH corresponding demodulationreference signal, other control channels, data channels, and the like.Where a plurality of SS blocks are mapped into the same subframe, theoffset of the different SS blocks relative to the subframe boundary isdifferent, and the terminals at different positions may successfullydetect the synchronization signal in any one of the SS blocks. In orderto complete the subframe timing, the terminal should to know the timezone information that is currently synchronized to the SS block.

In various embodiments of the disclosed technology, the synchronizationsignal block index related information may include at least one of thefollowing: (1) the SS burst set number of the synchronization signalwindow group, (2) the SS burst set number of the synchronization signalwindow within the SS burst set, (3) the slot number in the SS burst, (4)the SS block number in the slot, (5) the SS block number in the burstset, (6) the SS block number in the SS burst, (7) the slot number in theSS burst set, (8) N least significant bits(N LSBs) of the SS blockindex, (9) M most significant bits (M MSBs) of the SS block index, (10)X middle significant bits of SS block index, where N, M and X arenon-negative integers.

In various embodiments, at least one of the following DMRS featuresindicates the synchronization signal block index related information:(1) a DMRS sequence, (2) a scrambling code of the DMRS sequence, (3) theorder of the DMRS sequences for a plurality of data symbols, (4) thetime domain position of the DMRS, and (5) the frequency domain positionof the DMRS.

In some embodiments, the synchronization signal block index correlationinformation is indicated by a synchronization signal, and at least oneof the following synchronization signal characteristics is used toindicate the synchronization signal block index related information: (1)a sequence of a synchronization signal, (2) the scrambling sequence ofthe first-order synchronization signal, (3) the combination of themulti-level synchronization signal scrambling sequence, (4) thesynchronization signal sequence and (5) the synchronization signalsequence scrambling sequence.

In some embodiments, the signal may indicate a complete synchronizationsignal index with a combination of physical broadcast channeltransmission modes.

In some embodiments, physical broadcast channel transmission can includeat least one of the following items: (1) the information bits carried bythe physical broadcast channel, (2) the cyclic shift of the physicalbroadcast channel information bits, (3) the scrambling code of thephysical broadcast channel, and (4) the CRC mask of the physicalbroadcast channel, (5) the redundancy version (RV) of the physicalbroadcast channel.

In some embodiments, the mapping relationship between the timinginformation and the signal and/or the physical broadcast channeltransmission mode may be bound to the cell ID.

Various example embodiments are disclosed herein.

Example Embodiment 1

This embodiment describes the use of the PBCH DMRS sequence to indicateSS block index information.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, PBCH TTI=80 ms, contains four SS burstsets of 20 ms cycles. Each SS burst set contains four SS bursts, each SSburst evenly distributed within the SS burst set. Thus, every 5 msconfigure an SS burst with duration of 0.5 ms is present. An example SSburst internal structure, that is, mapping structure from SS blocks tothe data transmission slots, “240 kHz 14 symbols time slot” isillustrated herein, as an example in the figure and description givenfurther. This contains up to 64 SS blocks in the SS burst set. Themapping of the SS blocks to the data transmission slots and the numberof SS blocks included in the SS burst set are only examples. Othernumber of SS blocks may also be used. Furthermore, for differentfrequency bands, the number of SS blocks, the subcarrier spacing of thesignal channels within the SS block, and the time domain mappingstructure from SS blocks to the slots may also be different. Inaddition, the 64 resources are the potential transmission resources forthe SS block. In the actual system, the base station may choose to carrythe SS block on some or all of the resources. When some resources arenot actually sent SS block, the corresponding index will also bereserved, will not affect the index of other SS block, that is, SS blockindex and the corresponding time domain position of the index is fixed.

Some examples of how the base station indicates to the terminal the 64SS block index {SS block index 0˜63} are given herein.

In particular, in this example embodiment, the PBCH DMRS maps to thetime-frequency resources fixed within each SS block, e.g., the DMRSsequence length, e.g., the inserted time-frequency domain interval tomeet the PBCH demodulation performance requirements, only by differentsequences distinguish different SS blocks. In the structure shown inFIG. 2, there are 64 different SS blocks in the SS burst set. Therefore,64 different DMRS sequences (such as sequence 0 to sequence 63) can bedefined. The DMRS sequence can be a pseudo-random sequence PN sequence(e.g., M sequence). The different SS blocks carry different PBCH DMRSsequences. The mapping between the DMRS sequence and the SS block indexmay be predefined. For example, the DMRS sequence 0 (S0) corresponds toSS block index 0 (SBI0), sequence 1 and SS block Index 1 corresponds,etc., that satisfies the Sn<=>SBIn rule.

In addition, in order to achieve inter-cell interference randomization,the whole system can also define multiple groups of the above mappingrelationship, and each group mapping relationship is bound to the cellID, as shown in the Table 1 to define three sets of mappingrelationship.

In the example, the cell ID is determined by the primary and secondarysynchronization signal. For example, the primary synchronization signalsequence contains three root sequences, corresponding to the group ID1,the secondary synchronization signal sequence contains 1000 sequences,corresponding to the intra-group ID2, such that cell ID=intra-groupID2*3+group ID1. The total number of cell IDs is 3000. For example, ifthe group ID is 0 by the primary synchronization identification and theintra-group ID is 500 by the secondary synchronization sequenceidentification, the cell ID is set to 1500. In this example embodiment,the cell ID value is taken modulo 3, the result is 0, 1, 2,respectively, corresponding to the three predefined SS block index andDMRS sequence mapping rules, which is equivalent to cell ID divided intothree groups.

TABLE 1 SS block index and DMRS sequence mapping rules Cell ID (n, m isa nonnegative integer) Cell ID mod 3 = 0 SBI_(n) <=> S_(n) Cell ID mod 3= 1 SBI_(n) <=> S_((63-n)) Cell ID mod 3 = 2$\quad\left\{ \begin{matrix}{{SBI}_{n} = S_{({n + m})}} & {0 \leq n \leq {63 - m}} \\{{SBI}_{n} = S_{({n + m - 64})}} & {{63 - m} < n \leq 63}\end{matrix} \right.$

A terminal first determines the cell ID by detecting the synchronizationsignal (including the primary and secondary synchronization signals) ofthe cell and obtains the mapping rule between the SBI and the DMRSsequence corresponding to the cell ID, further detects the DMRS sequenceon the predefined fixed DMRS mapping resource, The DMRS sequence carriedin the current SS block determines the SBI in conjunction with themapping between the DMRS sequence and the current cell SBI and the DMRSsequence.

In the present embodiment, the same group of DMRS sequences is definedby different cells, and the mapping rules of the current cells aredetermined by binding the cell ID and the mapping rule. It is alsopossible to define multiple sets of DMRS sequences, for example, todivide the cells into three groups (which can still use the Cell ID mod3 as described above). Each group corresponds to a different set of DMRSsequences and identifies the cell ID by identifying the current set ofDMRS sequences carried by the cell. For example, different groups ofcells using the same SS block may select mutually orthogonal sequencesas the respective PBCH DMRS, so that due to the orthogonality of thecode domain, will avoid different groups of PBCH DMRS mutualinterference, improve DMRS sequence identification, and the use of DMRSperforms channel estimation performance.

Example Embodiment 2

This embodiment describes the use of PBCH DMRS sequence combinations toindicate SS block index information.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, PBCH TTI=80 ms, contains four SS burstsets of 20 ms cycles, each SS burst set contains four SS bursts, each SSburst evenly distributed within the SS burst set, that is, every 5 ms,and an SS burst with a duration of 0.5 ms. SS burst internal structure,that is, mapping structure from SS blocks to the data transmissionslots, (e.g., “240 kHz 14 symbols time slot”) as an example in thefigure is given further. This contains up to 64 SS blocks in the SSburst set. The mapping from SS blocks to the data transmission slots andthe number of SS blocks included in the SS burst set are only examples.Other possibilities of number SS blocks are not excluded. For differentfrequency bands, the number of SS blocks, the subcarrier spacing of thesignal channels within the SS block, and the time domain mappingstructure from SS blocks to the slots may also be different.

In this embodiment, PBCH DMRS is mapped on more than one symbol in eachSS block. As shown in FIG. 3, DMRS is mapped to two PBCH symbols,respectively, and one symbol is mapped on each symbol DMRS sequence. TheDMRS sequence mapped on the first PBCH symbol can be labeled as DMRS1,while the DMRS sequence mapped on the second PBCH symbol is DMRS2, andthe SS block index information is indicated by a combination of two DMRSsequences. On each symbol, the frequency domain resources that map DMRSare fixed. In the structure shown in FIG. 2, there are 64 different SSblocks in the SS burst set. Therefore, DMRS1 and DMRS2 should define 8DMRS sequences respectively. The DMRS sequence can be a pseudo-randomsequence PN sequence (such as M sequence, etc.) The DMRS sequences maybe the same or different. The different SS blocks carry a combination ofdifferent PBCH DMRS1 and DMRS2 sequences. The mapping between the DMRSsequence and the SS block index is predefined, as shown in the examplein Table 2, where the DMRS sequence on the two symbols belongs to thesame set {S0, S1, . . . , S7}, and SS block index 0 (SBI0) are mapped asshown in Table 2. The mapping relationship is predefined for the systemand is not limited to the mapping relationships listed in Table 2.

TABLE 2 SS block index (SBI) DMRS1 DMRS2 0 S0 S0 1 S0 S1 2 S0 S2 3 S0 S34 S0 S4 5 S0 S5 6 S0 S6 7 S0 S7 8 S1 S1 9 S1 S2 10 S1 S3 . . . . . . . .. 56 S7 S0 57 S7 S1 58 S7 S2 59 S7 S3 60 S7 S4 61 S7 S5 62 S7 S6 63 S7S7

In order to achieve randomization of inter-cell interference, the entiresystem may define multiple sets of mapping relationships as describedabove, and each set of mapping relationships is bound to the cell ID, asshown in Table 3. A terminal first determines the cell ID by detectingthe synchronization signal of the cell (including the primary andsecondary synchronization signals) and obtains the mapping rule betweenthe SBI and the DMRS sequence corresponding to the cell ID, and furtherdetects DMRS1 and DMRS2 on the predefined fixed DMRS mapping resource,determines the combination of DMRS sequences carried in the current SSblock, and combine the DMRS sequences 1, 2, and the mapping between thecurrent cell SBI and the DMRS sequence to determine the SBI. Forexample, when the terminal detects the cell synchronization signal anddetermines that the Cell ID is 468, it can verify that 468 mod 3=0, andtherefore the SS block index and the DMRS sequence combination mappingrule are “mapping rule 1.” Assuming that the mapping rule 1 is themapping mode shown in Table 2, the terminal detects DMRS1 and DMRS2 onthe two symbols where the PBCH is located, determines that DMRS1 is S7,and DMRS2 is S1, thus determining SBI=57.

TABLE 3 SS block index vs DMRS sequence ID combination mapping rulesCell ID mod 3 = 0 Mapping rule 1 Cell ID mod 3 = 1 Mapping rule 2 CellID mod 3 = 2 Mapping rule 3

Example Embodiment 3

This embodiment describes the use of the PBCH DMRS time domain positionto indicate part of the SS block index information.

In the structure shown in FIG. 4, the PBCH TTI=80 ms contains four SSburst sets of 20 ms cycles. Each SS burst set contains four SS bursts.Each SS burst is evenly distributed within the SS burst set, with an SSburst having a duration of 1 ms. FIG. 4 also depicts an example of an SSburst internal structure, that is, SS block to the data transmissionSlot mapping, “30 kHz 14 symbol time slot”. This example contains up to8 SS blocks in the SS burst set. The specific mappings and numbers arefor illustrative purpose only, and other numbers may be used. Fordifferent frequency bands, the number of SS blocks, the subcarrierspacing of the signal channels within the SS block, and the time domainmapping structure from SS blocks to the slots may also be different.

The scenario described below considers how the base station indicatesthe eight SS block indexes to the terminal.

Specifically, in the present example, each SS block contains more thanone PBCH symbol (described as an example of the two-symbol PBCH shown inFIG. 3); the time domain position mapped by the PBCH DMRS, i.e., thepenultimate symbol or the last symbol indicates which SS burst withinthe SS burst set is the current SS block. For example, when the DMRS ismapped to the previous PBCH symbol, it indicates that the current SSblock belongs to the first SS burst within the SS burst set. When theDMRS is mapped on the latter PBCH symbol, it indicates that the currentSS block belongs to the second SS burst within the SS burst set. Withineach PBCH symbol, the DMRS maps to which frequency domain resources(such as which REs), and the DMRS sequence is fixed.

In order to achieve randomization of inter-cell interference, the entiresystem may define multiple sets of mapping relationships as describedabove, and each set of mapping relationships is bound to the cell ID, asshown in Table 4. The terminal first determines the cell ID by detectingthe synchronization signal of the cell (including the primary andsecondary synchronization signals) and obtains the mapping rule betweenthe SBI and the DMRS time domain position corresponding to the cell ID.

TABLE 4 Relative position of DMRS SS burst within time domain ID the SSburst set position Cell ID mod 2 = 0 Previous PBCH first symbol last onePBCH second symbol Cell ID mod 2 = 1 Previous PBCH second symbol lastone PBCH first symbol

Example Embodiment 4

The terminal first detects the synchronization signal of the cell anddetermines the two symbols of the PBCH based on the fixed relativepositional relationship between the synchronization signal and the PBCHsymbol and tries to use the DMRS sequence to correlate with the data onthe DMRS frequency domain position in the two symbols to determine thetime domain position of the PBCH DMRS mapping of the current SS block,and to determine which SS burst within the SS burst set belongs to thecurrent SS block in combination with the mapping rules between thecurrent cell SBI and the DMRS time domain position.

In this embodiment, the partial SS block index is indicated by the PBCHDMRS time domain position, where the partial SS block index informationis specifically the SS burst number within the SS burst set. It is alsopossible to use the PBCH DMRS time domain position to indicate other SSblock index information, for example, the synchronization signal windowgroup SS burst set number, slot number within SS burst, SS block numberwithin slot, SS block in SS burst set Number, SS block number in SSburst, slot number in SS burst set.

This embodiment describes the use of the PBCH DMRS frequency domainposition to indicate partial SS block index information.

As previously described, in the structure shown in FIG. 4, the PBCHTTI=80 ms contains four burst bursts of 20 ms cycles. Each SS burst setcontains four SS bursts.

The scenario below considers how the base station indicates the eight SSblock indexes to the user device.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the PBCHDMRS is mapped to the first PBCH symbol of each SS block as an example,and the frequency domain position of the PBCH DMRS map, i.e., thedifferent DMRS frequency position 1, 2, 3, 4 to indicate the number ofthe current SS block within the SS burst, or the relative position ofthe SS block within the SS burst, as shown in Table 4. Similar toExample 3, in order to achieve randomization of inter-cell interference,the entire system can also define multiple sets of the above mappingrelationships, and each set of mapping relationships is bound to thecell ID. The terminal first determines the cell ID by detecting thesynchronization signal (including the primary and secondarysynchronization signals) of the cell and obtains the mapping rulebetween the SBI and the DMRS frequency domain position corresponding tothe cell ID.

TABLE 5 SBI DMRS position 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 1 5 2 6 3 7 4

In FIG. 5, each DMRS position contains a set of DMRS frequency domainresources (e.g., several REs). Each group of frequency domain resourcesis predefined by the system, and the base station selects one of thepositions to transmit the DMRS sequence. In this embodiment, it isassumed that the sequence of DMRS is fixed.

The terminal first detects the synchronization signal of the cell anddetermines the two symbols of the PBCH based on the fixed relativepositional relationship between the synchronization signal and the PBCHsymbol and tries to use the DMRS sequence correlated with receivedsignal in the DMRS sequence position of the first PBCH symbol. The DMRSposition of the maximum correlation peak is considered to be thefrequency domain position mapped by the current DMRS. The terminal thendetermines the current SS block belongs to the relative position withinthe SS burst. For example, if the current terminal determines that theDMRS position is position1, it is possible to determine that the currentSS block is the first SS block within the SS burst. This determinationdoes not distinguish between the current SS burst is which one of the SSburst sets, this information can be considered by other instructions(e.g., from higher layer communication) to achieve the SS block indexcomplete information instructions.

In the present embodiment, the partial SS block index is indicated bythe PBCH DMRS frequency domain position, where the partial SS blockindex information is specifically the SS block number/relative positionwithin the SS burst. It is also possible to use the PBCH DMRS frequencydomain position to indicate other SS block index information, forexample, the synchronization signal window group SS burst set number,the SS burst number in the SS burst set, the slot number in the SSburst, the SS block in the slot number, the SS block number in the SSburst set, and the slot number in the SS burst set.

Example Embodiment 5

This embodiment describes the use of a combination of the PBCH DMRS timedomain position and the frequency domain position to indicate part ofthe SS block index information.

In the structure shown in FIG. 4, the PBCH TTI=80 ms contains four SSburst sets of 20 ms cycles. Each SS burst set contains four SS bursts.Each SS burst is evenly distributed within the SS burst set, Configurean SS burst with a duration of 1 ms. SS burst internal structure, thatis, SS block to the data transmission Slot mapping, “30 kHz 14 symboltime slot” as an example in the figure given further. This contains upto 8 SS blocks in the SS burst set. The numbers used here are forillustrative purpose only and other numbers may be used. For differentfrequency bands, the number of SS blocks, the subcarrier spacing of thesignal channels within the SS block, and the mapping to the slot timedomain may also be different.

The scenario considers how the base station indicates the eight SS blockindexes to the terminal.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the PBCH DMRS may bemapped at four positions DMRS position 1, 2, 3, 4, which are used toindicate the number of the current SS block within the SS burst, or SSblock, with the relative position within the SS burst. As shown in Table4.

In FIG. 6, each DMRS position contains a set of DMRS time domainresources (such as several REs on a symbol). Each set of time-frequencyresources is pre-defined by the system. The base station selects one ofthe positions to transmit DMRS sequence. In this embodiment, it isassumed that the sequence of DMRS is fixed.

The terminal first detects the synchronization signal of the cell anddetermines the two symbols of the PBCH based on the fixed relativepositional relationship between the synchronization signal and the PBCHsymbol and tries to use the DMRS sequence with the DMRS frequency domainposition in each of the first and second PBCH symbols The DMRS positionof the maximum correlation peak is considered to be the time-frequencydomain position of the current DMRS. And then determine the current SSblock belongs to the relative position within the SS burst. For example,when the current terminal determines the DMRS frequency domain positionas DMRS position3, it is possible to determine that the current SS blockis the third SS block within the SS burst. But cannot distinguishbetween the current SS burst is which one of the SS burst sets, thisinformation can be considered by other instructions to further indicate(for example, for a set of DMRS position, define two sequences, andfurther distinguish SS burst set within the SS Burst number) to achievean indication of the complete information for SS block index.

In the present embodiment, the partial SS block index is indicated bythe PBCH DMRS frequency domain position, where the partial SS blockindex information is specifically the SS block number/relative positionwithin the SS burst. It is also possible to use the PBCH DMRS frequencydomain position to indicate other SS block index information, forexample, the synchronization signal window group SS burst set number,the SS burst number in the SS burst set, the slot number in the SSburst, the SS block in the slot number, the SS block number in the SSburst set, and the slot number in the SS burst set.

Example Embodiment 6

This embodiment describes the use of the scrambling sequence of the PBCHDMRS sequence to indicate SS block index information.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, specifically, in the presentembodiment, the PBCH DMRS maps to the time-frequency resources fixed ineach SS block, i.e., the DMRS sequence length, i.e., the insertedtime-frequency domain interval, satisfies the PBCH demodulationperformance demand, where only different sequences are used to indicatedifferent SS blocks. In the structure shown in FIG. 2, there are 64different SS blocks in the SS burst set. Therefore, one DMRS sequenceand one of the 64 different DMRS sequences (such as sequence 0 tosequence 63) are defined to indicate different SS blocks, DMRS sequencesand their scrambling sequences in the burst set may be pseudorandomsequence PN sequences (such as M sequences, etc.). Different SS blockscarry scrambling sequences of different PBCH DMRS sequences. The mappingbetween the scrambling sequence of the DMRS sequence and the SS blockindex is predefined. For example, the scrambling sequence 0 (S0) of theDMRS sequence and the SS block index 0 (SBI0), the scrambling sequence 1of the DMRS sequence corresponds to SS block index 1, and so on, thatis, the Sn<=>SBIn rule.

In addition, similarly to Embodiment 1, in order to realizerandomization of inter-cell interference, the entire system can alsodefine a plurality of sets of the above mapping relationships, and eachset of mapping relationships is bound to the cell ID.

The terminal may first determine the cell ID by detecting thesynchronization signal (including the primary and secondarysynchronization signals) of the cell and obtains the mapping rulebetween the SBI and the DMRS sequence scrambling sequence correspondingto the cell ID. The terminal further uses the same fixed DMRS mappingresource and the scrambling sequence of the DMRS sequence carried in thecurrent SS block is combined with the DMRS sequence scrambling sequenceand the mapping relationship between the current cell SBI and the DMRSsequence scrambling sequence. The DMRS sequence of the DMRS sequence isused to attempt to descramble the DMRS sequence and determine the SBI.

In the present embodiment, different cells may define the same set ofDMRS sequence scrambling sequences, and the mapping rules of the currentcells are determined by the correspondence between the predefined cellIDs and the mapping rules. It is also possible to define a set ofmultiple sets of DMRS sequence scrambling sequences, for example, todivide the cell into three groups (which can still be modeled by theCell ID pair 3 described above). Each group may correspond to a set ofdifferent DMRS sequence scrambling sequences. Terminals may identify thecell ID, and determine the set of DMRS sequence scrambling sequencescarried by the current cell. For example, different groups of cellsselect mutually orthogonal scrambling sequences in the same SS block asthe respective PBCH DMRS scrambling sequences, improve DMRS sequenceidentification, and use DMRS to do channel estimation performance.

Example Embodiment 7

The present embodiment describes the use of the scrambling sequence ofthe synchronization signal to indicate part of the SS block indexinformation.

In the structure shown in FIG. 4, each SS burst set contains two SSbursts, each containing four SS blocks. In particular, the presentembodiment utilizes the different scrambling sequences of thesynchronization signal to distinguish the different SS bursts belongingto the SS burst set, which can be scrambled at a certain level ofsynchronization signals (e.g., there are 500 secondary synchronizationsignal sequence, scrambling code 1 and scrambling code 2 to scramble thesecondary synchronization signal to obtain 1000 scrambled sequences). Inthis way, the terminal first identifies which SS burst and SS burst setthat the current SS block belongs to by identifying the scramblingsequence of the secondary synchronization signal.

In the present embodiment, it is also possible to use othersynchronization signal characteristics for the indication. Thesecharacteristics include, for example, the synchronization signalsequence or the mapping of the synchronization signals. In this regard,for example, the synchronization signals are first divided into groupsor packets so that, within the same group/packet of synchronizationsignals, the sequence of the synchronization signals in the samegroup/packet corresponds to the same SS block index information. Inaddition, the synchronization signals are not limited to primary andsecondary synchronization signals. Moreover, the synchronization signalscan also include newly added synchronization signals.

The following examples will give some typical examples of combinationsof instructions.

Example Embodiment 8

In this embodiment, the indication mode of the SS block index is thatthe PBCH DMRS sequence and the PBCH explicit information are combined toindicate that the combined range of the PBCHs is the corresponding SSblock within the SS burst and the different SS burst sets.

PBCH explicit information refers to the SS block index indicationinformation bits are contained in the PBCH information bits. Forexample, in the present embodiment, the complete SS block indexinformation is indicated by the combination of the PBCH explicitinformation and the PBCH DMRS sequence.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, PBCH TTI=80 ms, contains four burstbursts of 20 ms cycles, each SS burst set contains four SS bursts, eachSS burst evenly distributed within the SS burst set, that is, every 5 msConfigure an SS burst with a duration of 0.5 ms. FIG. 2 also shows SSburst internal structure, that is, SS block to the data transmissionSlot mapping, as “240 kHz 14 symbols time slot”. This contains up to 64SS blocks in the SS burst set.

The following scenario considers how the base station indicates to theterminal the 64 SS block indexes.

Specifically, when the PBCHs in the two SS blocks contain differentinformation bits, the two PBCHs cannot be merged. Therefore, whenconsidering PBCH explicit information to indicate part of the SS blockindex information, it is useful to consider the need for merging twoPBCH channels.

Different SS blocks within a SS burst can support combination: the PBCHcan use the 2 bit explicit information to indicate some of the SS blockindex information. Within the same SS burst, the 2 bit explicitinformation should be the same. This can ensure that two different PBCHchannels within a relatively continuous SS block can reasonably wellsupport the merge of the two PBCh channels. However, between differentSS bursts, the explicit information for one PBCH channel in one SS burstis different from the explicit information of another PBCH channel inanother SS burst and this can no longer support the merger.

As shown in Table 6: The PBCH column gives the explicit indication ofthe bearer in the SS block of each SS burst in each SS burst set in thePBCH TTI, such as the 16 SS blocks in SS burst 0 of the SS burst set 0,The PBCH carries “00”; 16 PBCH DMRS sequences are defined, correspondingto different SS blocks in the SS burst.

TABLE 6 PBCH explicit PBCH DMRS SS burst set SS burst informationsequence 0 0 00 S0, S1, . . . , S15 0 1 01 S0, S1, . . . , S15 0 2 10S0, S1, . . . , S15 0 3 11 S0, S1, . . . , S15 1 0, 1, 2, 3 00, 01, 10,11 S0, S1, . . . , S15 2 0, 1, 2, 3 00, 01, 10, 11 S0, S1, . . . , S15 30, 1, 2, 3 00, 01, 10, 11 S0, S1, . . . , S15

In particular, one implementation can be divided into four PBCHs (PBCH0,PBCH1, PBCH2, PBCH3), corresponding to the PBCH information bits,including the SS block index indicating the domain {00, 01,10,11}. EachPBCH information bit (such as 40 bit, which contains the CRC bits) forchannel coding and rate matching, the encoded information is obtainedand the information is divided into four segments, each in a SS burstset within the transmission, respectively, corresponding to the SS burstset 0,1,2,3. In the case of SS burst set 0, SS burst 0 corresponds toPBCH0 (including SS block index indicates bit 00). Different SSs withinSS burst 0 are distinguished by different PBCH DMRS sequences.Predefined DMRS sequences are different from SS bursts SS block mappingrelationship (such as S0 corresponds to SS block 0), and then SS burst 0within each SS block PBCH information and PBCH DMRS have beenidentified. Similarly, each SS block within the other SS bursts in theSS burst set 0 can obtain the corresponding PBCH information bits andPBCH DMRS. Similarly, the base station will also generate PBCHs forother SS burst sets within the PBCH TTI. In order to achieverandomization of inter-cell interference, the whole system can alsodefine the mapping relationship between the above-mentioned DMRSsequence and the SS block number in the SS burst, and each group mappingrelationship is bound to the cell ID.

In this processing mode, the terminal first determines the cell ID bydetecting the synchronization signal (including the primary andsecondary synchronization signals) of the cell. Next, the terminalobtains the mapping rule between the SBI and the DMRS sequencecorresponding to the cell ID. The terminal then compares the mappingrules between the predefined fixed DMRS mapping resources. For this, theDMRS sequence in the current SS block is first determined, and thenumber of SS blocks within the SS burst is determined by combining theDMRS sequence and the mapping relationship between the different SSblock numbers and the DMRS sequence in the current SS burst.

Further, the PBCH is decoded using the channel estimation result of thePBCH DMRS, and the SS block index indicates that the bit is 00 from thePBCH. Therefore, it is determined that the current SS block belongs tothe SS burst 0 in the SS burst set.

In addition, since the corresponding SS blocks of different SS burstsets also have the same information bits, the corresponding SS blocksbetween SS burst sets can also be combined.

In the present embodiment, the original information bits supporting thePBCH remain unchanged within the SS burst and can therefore be mergedwithin the SS burst range. Similarly, it is also possible to considersupporting PBCHs in time slots, radio frames, subframes, SS bursts, andPBCH TTIs, and it is the PBCH original information bits should remainunchanged within the corresponding range.

Example Embodiment 9

In the present embodiment, the indication of the SS block index is acombination of PBCH implicit information and PBCH DMRS sequence.

The PBCH implicit indication indicates that different SS block indexinformation is implied by different PBCH processing methods. The PBCHprocessing mode includes one or more of the following: redundancyversion, cyclic shift, scrambling, CRC mask of the broadcast channel,and so on.

The cyclic shift of the PBCH information bits implicitly indicates thedifferent SS blocks within the different SS bursts, and the demodulatedreference signal sequence of the PBCH is used to indicate the differentSSs in the SS burst set. In this case, other combination of instructionsis not excluded.

As shown in Table 7, the PBCH DMRS column gives the PBCH DMRS sequencecorresponding to the different SS bursts in the SS burst set, where theDMRS of the PBCHs in all SS blocks in SS burst0 uses sequence 0; all SSblocks in SS burst1 The DMRS of the PBCH uses sequence 1.

Four PBCH cyclic shift amounts 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, and 3ΔN are defined,corresponding to the different SS blocks in the SS burst.

TABLE 7 SS burst set SS burst PBCH DMRS PBCH cyclic shift 0 0 DMRSsequence 0 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 0 1 DMRS sequence 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 1 0 DMRSsequence 0 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 1 1 DMRS sequence 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 2 0 DMRSsequence 0 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 2 1 DMRS sequence 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 3 0 DMRSsequence 0 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN 3 1 DMRS sequence 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, 3ΔN

In this processing mode, each SS block inside the SS burst contains thesame PBCH information bits, but the cyclic shift of the information bitsare different. When the terminal combines the PBCHs in the two SSblocks, relative deviation of cyclic shift of two SS blocks can beobtained by determining the time interval of the SS block. When the twoSS blocks differ by a distance of 14, the two SS blocks are separatedfrom each other by two of the SS blocks in the SS burst. For example,according to the configuration of FIG. 4, (2ΔT), the cyclic shift of thetwo PBCH information bits is different by 2ΔN. Before the two PBCHs aremerged, the latter PBCH is shifted by 2ΔN in the reverse direction toobtain the same as the previous PBCH Information bits, this time twoPBCH can be combined to improve the success rate of decoding.

In this case, the two PBCHs may still be information after cyclic shift.A terminal may decode the different PBCHs of the combined PBCHs. Beforedecoding the PBCH, a terminal may estimate the channels according to themeasurement of DMRS. The DMRS sequence is used to estimate the channelby using the DMRS sequence 0 and the DMRS sequence 1 to correlate thereceived signal at the DMRS position. And the DMRS sequence (e.g., DMRSsequence 0) with greater correlation peak is determined as the currentlyused DMRS sequence. The channel estimation result is used for PBCHdecoding. The PBCH is considered to be decoded when a PBCH is cyclicallyshifted, the CRC check is completed and the decoding of the PBCH iscompleted. The corresponding cyclic shift number can represent differentSS block index information.

In the present embodiment, a part of SS block index information iscarried in the PBCH DMRS sequence, and similarly, the PBCH DMRS sequencecombination, the scrambling code of the DMRS sequence, the time domainposition of the PBCH DMRS, and the frequency domain position of the PBCHDMRS can also be considered to carry part of the SS block indexinformation. Further, some SS block index information may also becarried by a combination of more than one of the following information:PBCH DMRS sequence, PBCH DMRS sequence combination, DMRS sequencescrambling code, PBCH DMRS time domain position, and PBCH DMRS frequencydomain position.

Example Embodiment 10

In the present embodiment, the indication of the SS block index is acombination of the PBCH scrambling code and the PBCH DMRS sequence. Thescrambling code of the PBCH information bits implicitly indicates thedifferent SS blocks within the SS burst, and the demodulation referencesignal sequence of the PBCH is used to indicate the different SS burstswithin the SS burst set. In this case, combination of other instructionsis not excluded.

In Table 8, the PBCH DMRS column shows the PBCH DMRS sequencecorresponding to the different SS bursts in the SS burst set. Forexample, the DMRS of the PBCHs in all SS blocks in SS burst0 usessequence 0. The time domain of the DMRS The position is pre-defined bythe system, that is, DMRS is inserted in a fixed frequency domainresource (e.g., resource unit, RE, Resource Element) on the symbol wherethe PBCH is located.

The DMRS of PBCHs in all SS blocks in SS burst1 uses scramblingsequence 1. The scrambling sequence is a scrambling process used for bitencoding PBCH.

The system may use four PBCH scrambling sequences: scrambling sequences1, 2, 3, 4, respectively, corresponding to different SS blocks withinthe SS burst.

TABLE 8 SS burst set SS burst PBCH DMRS PBCH scrambling code 0 0 DMRSsequence 0 Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 0 1 DMRS sequence 1 Scramblingsequence 1, 2, 3, 4 1 0 DMRS sequence 0 Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 11 DMRS sequence 1 Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 2 0 DMRS sequence 0Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 2 1 DMRS sequence 1 Scrambling sequence1, 2, 3, 4 3 0 DMRS sequence 0 Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 3 1 DMRSsequence 1 Scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4

A terminal may first detect the synchronization signal and determine thetime domain resource of the PBCH according to the relative positionalrelationship between the PBCH and the synchronization signal, and thendetermines the RE of the DMRS inserted on the PBCH symbol. The DMRSsequence (e.g., DMRS sequence 0) with greater correlation peak may bedetermined as the currently used DMRS sequence by using the DMRSsequence 0 and DMRS sequence 1 respectively to correlate the receivedsignal at the DMRS position, and then the DMRS sequence 0 Channel toestimate the channel estimation result for PBCH decoding. During thedecoding of the PBCH, the terminal may attempt to descramble the PBCHusing the scrambling sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, respectively. After attemptingto descramble the PBCH with a certain scrambling sequence, the CRC isfurther decoded by the CRC checker. Correspondingly, the currently usedscrambling sequence indicates the position/number of the current SSblock within the SS burst, combined with the DMRS sequence, complete theSS block SBI acquisition.

In this processing mode, each SS block within the SS burst contains thesame PBCH information bits, but the scrambling of the information bitsis different. If a terminal wants to combine the PBCHs in the two SSblocks, it should assume different scrambling sequence combination. Inthis case, for example, if the terminal wishes to combine the PBCHs intwo adjacent SS blocks, and the following four scrambling sequences canbe used to perform the descrambling of two PBCHs: {scrambling sequence1, scrambling sequence 2}, {scrambling code sequence 2, scrambling codesequence 3}, {scrambling code sequence 3, scrambling code sequence 4},{scrambling code sequence 4, scrambling code sequence 1}. Thedescrambled PBCHs are soft-merged and decoded. The two PBCHs are decodedwith scrambling sequence combination, e.g., with {scrambling sequence 2and scrambling sequence 3}, the two descrambled data are combined anddecoded. If successful, it shows that the two SS blocks are the SS blockcorresponding to scrambling sequence 2, and scrambling sequence 3.Combining with the DMRS sequence, completes the SS block SBIacquisition.

Example Embodiment 11

In the present embodiment, the indication mode of the SS block index is:PBCH implicit information+synchronization signal scrambling, and thePBCH support range is PBCH TTI.

Using the characteristics of the synchronization signal to indicate partof the SS block index information includes one or more of the following:synchronization signal sequence, synchronization signal scrambling,synchronization signal mapping. PBCH processing method implicitlyincludes different SS block index information, where the PBCH processingmethods include one or more of the following: cyclic shift, scramblingcode, CRC mask and so on. In the present embodiment, the complete SSblock index information is indicated by the PBCH implicit indication incombination with the synchronization signal.

Specifically, the PBCH information bits remain unchanged in the PBCHTTI, that is, PBCHs are supported in the PBCH TTI.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, the different scrambling sequences ofthe synchronization signal are used to distinguish different SS bursts.The scrambling sequence can be scrambled at a certain level ofsynchronization signals (e.g., 500 synchronization sequences, and twoscrambling codes to scramble the secondary synchronization signal toobtain 1000 scrambled sequences); the PBCH of the different SS blockswithin the same SS burst uses different cyclic shifts.

As shown in Table 9, the synchronization signal scrambling sequencegives the scrambling sequence of the synchronization signal in the SSburst of each SS burst in each SS burst set in the PBCH TTI, such as 16in the SS burst 0 of the SS burst set 0 SS2. The different PBCH cyclicoffsets {ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN} correspond to different SS blocks, andthe different RVs correspond to different bursts within the PBCH TTI.Specifically, the PBCH information bits (such as 40 bit, which containsCRC bits) are processed for channel coding and rate matching. Uponcompletion of this process, the obtained encoded information is dividedinto four segments and each divided segment is transmitted within a SSburst set and this transmitted segment is defined as a redundant versionof RV, thus forming a total of four RVs, RV 0, RV1, RV 2, and RV3. Forexample, RV0 corresponds to SS bust set 0, RV1 corresponds to SS burstset 1, RV2 corresponds to SS burst set 2, and RV3 corresponds to SSburst set 3.

TABLE 9 SS burst SS Synchronous PBCH cyclic set burst signal scramblingshift amount RV 0 0 Scrambling code 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₀ 0 1Scrambling code 2 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₀ 1 0 Scrambling code 1 0,ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₁ 1 1 Scrambling code 2 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔNRV₁ 2 0 Scrambling code 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₂ 2 1 Scramblingcode 2 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₂ 3 0 Scrambling code 1 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, .. . , 15ΔN RV₃ 3 1 Scrambling code 2 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN RV₃

The scrambling code 1 corresponds to the previous SS burst in the SSburst set, and the scrambling code 2 corresponds to the last SS burst inthe SS burst set. In this case, the scrambling sequence of the twosecondary synchronization signals is defined as follows: Inside the SSburst; there are 16 SS blocks, and the interval between adjacent SSblocks. The time shift in turn corresponds to the PBCH cyclic shiftamount is 0, ΔN, 2ΔN, . . . , 15ΔN, respectively.

Similarly, the base station will also generate synchronization signalsand PBCHs for other SS burst sets within the PBCH TTI. The difference isthat the RVs used by the SS burst set PBCH are different.

In this processing mode, the terminal first identifies which SS burstthe current SS block belongs by identifying the scrambling sequence ofthe secondary synchronization signal.

Further, each SS block within the SS burst contains the same PBCHinformation bits, but the cyclic shift of the information bits aredifferent. When the terminal combines the PBCHs in the two SS blocks,relative deviation of cyclic shift of two SS blocks can be got bydetermining the time interval of the SS block. For example, according tothe configuration of FIG. 2, two SS blocks in the SS burst arecyclically shifted by seven symbols (such as ΔT), and when two SS blocksdiffer by 14 symbols (for example, That is, 2ΔT), the cyclic shift ofthe two PBCH information bits is different by 2ΔN. When the terminalcombines the two PBCHs, the latter PBCH is cyclically shifted by 2ΔN inthe reverse direction to obtain the same information bits as theprevious PBCH. At this point two PBCH can be combined to improve thesuccess rate of decoding. At this point the two PBCH may still be theinformation after the cyclic shift, you need to try to combine the PBCHafter the different cycle to try to decode, if the CRC check success,then complete the PBCH decoding, then the corresponding the number ofcycle shifts can represent the index of the different SS blocks withinthe SS burst.

Since the terminal may begin receiving the initial access, i.e., receivethe synchronization signal and the physical broadcast channel in any oneof the SS burst set cycles, the PB of the PBCH may be either RV0-3, andthe terminal also needs to use any of the four RVs described above Totry the decoding process described above. If an RV decoding isunsuccessful, assume another RV, continue to try.

For example, the PBCH of SS block 1 and SS block 3 are combined, and theterminal initially determines that the latter PBCH is cyclically shiftedtwice more than the previous PBCH based on the time domain interval ofthe two SS blocks. Then, the reverse cyclic shift latter PBCH by 2ΔN andthe reverse cyclically shifted PBCH is soft-merged with the previousPBCH. At this time, the combined PBCH is still the result of a cyclicshift in a PBCH after 4-segment coding. The terminal assumes that thecurrently detected PBCH is any one of the four segments, and attempts toreverse cycle shift of the PBCH, when trying to combine the PBCH with ΔNreverse cyclic shift, try decoding, through the CRC check, thendetermine the currently detected PBCH code field (such as segment 1,corresponding to SS burst set1) and the combined PBCH cyclic shift valueis ΔN, that is, the previous SS block is SS block 1, and since thelatter SS block And the previous SS block is different from 2ΔN, thenthe next SS block is SS block 3. Further, it is judged by thesynchronization signal of the two SS blocks which, based on thepreviously detected synchronization signal, that the current scramblingsequence is sequence 1, it is determined that it belongs to SS burst1,and the identification process of SS block index is completed Theprevious PBCH belongs to the SS block 1 of SS burst 1 of SS burst set 1,and the latter PBCH belongs to SS block 3 of SS burst 1 of SS burst set1.

In addition, since the SS blocks of different SS burst sets within PBCHTTI also contain the same information bits, the SS blocks between SSburst sets can also be merged.

In the present embodiment, the PBCH implicitly indicates the manner inwhich different cyclic shifts are defined, or different scrambling codesor different CRC blocks may be used to implicitly indicate part of theSS block index information.

In addition to the synchronization signal scrambling, thecharacteristics of the synchronization signal may be any of thefollowing: a synchronization signal sequence, a synchronization signalmapping method, or any combination of a synchronization signal sequence,a synchronization signal scrambling code, and a synchronization signalmapping scheme.

Example Embodiment 12

In the present embodiment, the indication mode of the SS block index is:PBCH DMRS time-frequency domain position+PBCH DMRSsequence+synchronization signal sequence and PBCH-enabled consolidationrange is PBCH TTI.

Specifically, the PBCH information bits remain unchanged in the PBCHTTI, that is, PBCHs are supported in the PBCH TTI.

In the structure shown in FIG. 7, the PBCH TTI=80 ms contains four SSburst sets of 20 ms cycles, each of which contains four SS bursts, eachof which is mapping centrally within the previous 5 ms of SS burst set,and the duration of each SS burst is 0.5 ms. SS burst internalstructure, that is, mapping structure from SS blocks to the datatransmission Slots, “120 kHz 14 symbol time slot” as an example in thefigure is given further. This contains up to 48 SS blocks in the SSburst set. Note: The mapping of the SS block to the data transmissionslot and the number of SS blocks included in the SS burst set are onlyexamples. The possibility of other number of SS blocks is not excluded.For different frequency bands, the number of SS blocks, the subcarrierspacing of the signal channels within the SS block, and the time domainstructure of mapping from SS blocks to the slots may also be different.

The scenario considers how the base station indicates to the terminalthe 48 SS block indexes.

As shown in Table 10, in the present embodiment, the synchronizationsignal is divided into three sequence sets, and the differentsynchronization signal sequence sets are used to distinguish thedifferent SS blocks in the slot (for example, all the synchronizationsignals in Slot 0 are set in the synchronization signal sequence set, Itis possible to select the same synchronization signal sequence in orderto support the combined detection of the synchronization signal withinSlot0. Typically, the primary synchronization signal contains three rootsequences, which can be divided into three groups based on the differentroot sequence of the primary synchronization signal), The PBCH DMRSsequence is used to distinguish between different Slots within the SSburst (define four different PBCH DMRS sequences: {PBCH DMRS sequence 0,1, 2, 3}), PBCH DMRS time zone position is used to indicate SS burst set(As shown in FIG. 6, defining four PBCH DMRS time-frequency positions,corresponding to different SS bursts in the SS burst set, respectively).

TABLE 10 DMRS SS time- burst SS frequency SS Synchronization set burstposition Slot PBCH DMRS block signal sequence 0 0 DMRS 0 PBCH DMRS 0Sequence set 0 position 1 sequence 0 1 Sequence set 1 2 Sequence set 2 1PBCH DMRS 3 Sequence set 0 sequence 1 4 Sequence set 1 5 Sequence set 22 PBCH 6 Sequence set 0 DMRS 7 Sequence set 1 sequence 2 8 Sequence set2 3 PBCH DMRS 9 Sequence set 0 sequence 3 10 Sequence set 1 11 Sequenceset 2 0 1 DMRS 0 PBCH DMRS 12 Sequence set 0 position 1 sequence 0 13Sequence set 1 14 Sequence set 2 1 PBCH DMRS 15 Sequence set 0 sequence1 16 Sequence set 1 17 Sequence set 2 2 PBCH DMRS 18 Sequence set 0sequence 2 19 Sequence set 1 20 Sequence set 2 3 PBCH DMRS 21 Sequenceset 0 sequence 3 22 Sequence set 1 23 Sequence set 2 0 2 DMRS 0 PBCHDMRS 24 Sequence set 0 position 2 sequence 0 25 Sequence set 1 26Sequence set 2 1 PBCH DMRS 27 Sequence set 0 sequence 1 28 Sequence set1 29 Sequence set 2 2 PBCH DMRS 30 Sequence set 0 sequence 2 31 Sequenceset 1 32 Sequence set 2 3 PBCH DMRS 33 Sequence set 0 sequence 3 34Sequence set 1 35 Sequence set 2 0 3 DMRS 0 PBCH DMRS 36 Sequence set 0position 3 sequence 0 37 Sequence set 1 38 Sequence set 2 1 PBCH DMRS 39Sequence set 0 sequence 1 40 Sequence set 1 41 Sequence set 2 2 PBCHDMRS 42 Sequence set 0 sequence 2 43 Sequence set 1 44 Sequence set 2 3PBCH DMRS 45 Sequence set 0 sequence 3 46 Sequence set 1 47 Sequence set2

In this processing mode, the terminal first identifies SS block numberwithin the slot by identifying the sequence of the synchronizationsignal. Further, the time series of the current PBCH DMRS and thesequence of the PBCH DMRS are determined by using the possible DMRSsequence to correlate with the received data at different time-frequencypositions of the PBCH DMRS, and then determine Slot number within SSburst, and which SS burst in the SS burst set. Complete the SS blockindex recognition process.

In addition, since the present embodiment indicates the indexinformation by not introducing the PBCH explicit information, all the SSblocks in the PBCH TTI can be combined.

In order to achieve randomization of inter-cell interference, the entiresystem can also define the more than one mapping relationship betweenthe above-mentioned PBCH DMRS time-frequency domain position+PBCH DMRSsequence+synchronization signal sequence and SBI, and each mappingrelationship is bound to the cell ID.

Example Embodiment 13

In the present embodiment, the indication mode of the SS block index isthat the combination of the PBCH explicit information and thecharacteristics of the synchronization signal, and the combination ofthe PBCHs supporting the SS burst and the corresponding SS bursts of thedifferent SS burst sets.

PBCH explicit information means that the corresponding SS block indexindication information bits are included in the PBCH information bits.The characteristics of the synchronization signal include asynchronization signal sequence, a scrambling code sequence, a mappingmode, and the like. In the present embodiment, the complete SS blockindex information is indicated by the combination of the PBCH explicitinformation and the synchronization signal scrambling sequence.

In the structure shown in FIG. 4, the PBCH TTI=80 ms contains four SSburst sets of 20 ms cycles. Each SS burst set contains four SS bursts.Each SS burst is evenly distributed within the SS burst set, Configurean SS burst with a duration of 1 ms. SS burst internal structure, thatis, structure of mapping from SS block to the data transmission Slot,“30 kHz 14 symbol time slot” as an example in the figure is givenfurther. This contains up to 8 SS blocks in the SS burst set. Note: Themapping of the SS blocks to the data transmission slots and the numberof SS blocks included in the SS burst set are only examples. The othernumber of SS blocks is not excluded. For different frequency bands, thenumber of SS blocks, the subcarrier spacing of the signal channelswithin the SS block, and the time domain structure of mapping from SSblocks to the slots may also be different.

The scenario considers how the base station indicates the eight SS blockindexes to the terminal.

Specifically, when the PBCHs in the two SS blocks contain differentinformation bits, the two PBCHs cannot be merged. Therefore, whenconsidering PBCH explicit information to indicate part of the SS blockindex information, it is necessary to consider the merging of PBCHdemand.

SS blocks within the SS burst support the combination: PBCH 1 bitexplicit information to indicate part of the SS block index information,the same SS burst contains the same 1 bit explicit information, toensure that the relative continuous SS block PBCH can be a good supportfor the combination. And combination between the SS bursts are no longersupported due to explicit information are different.

As shown in Table 11: The PBCH column gives explicit indication carriedin the SS block of each SS burst in each SS burst set in the PBCH TTI,such as the four SS blocks in SS burst 0 of the SS burst set 0 , ThePBCH carries “0”; four different synchronization signal scrambling codesare defined, which are scrambled on a sequence of synchronizationsignals, such as secondary synchronization signals. The differentscrambling codes represent different SS blocks within the SS burst.

TABLE 11 SS burst set SS burst PBCH Synchronous signal scrambling 0 0 0Scrambling code 0, . . . , Scrambling code 3 0 1 1 Scrambling code 0, .. . , Scrambling code 3

In particular, it can be divided into two PBCHs (denoted as PBCHO,PBCH1), which correspond to the PBCH information bits, including the SSblock index indicating field {0, 1}, respectively, due to the differencein PBCH information contents. Each of the PBCH information bits (such as40 bits, which contains CRC bits) performs channel coding and ratematching to obtain the encoded information, which is divided into foursegments, each of which is transmitted in an SS burst set, SS burst 0transmission PBCH0 encoded first segment, SS burst set 1 SS burst 0transmission PBCH0 encoded second segment, SS burst set 2 SS burst 0transmission PBCH0 encoded third segment, SS burst set 3 SS burst 0transmission PBCH0 encoded after the fourth paragraph. In the case of SSburst set 0, the SS blocks used in SS burst 0 correspond to PBCH0.Further, different SS blocks within each SS burst use differentsecondary synchronization sequence scrambling codes, corresponding to{scrambling code 0, . . . , scrambling code 3}.

Similarly, the base station will also generate the PBCH andsynchronization signals for the SS blocks within the other SS burst setsin the PBCH TTI. In addition, in different SS burst sets, send differentencoded PBCH code segment, can support SS burst set PBCH incrementalredundancy (IR, incremental redundancy combining), to obtain greatermerger gain, that is, each one PBCH information bits (such as 40 bit,which contains CRC bits) for channel coding and rate matching, theencoded information is obtained, the information is divided into foursegments, each segment transmitted in a SS burst set, respectively,corresponding to SS burst set0, 1, 2, 3.

In this processing mode, the terminal first identifies the SS blockwhich belongs to the SS burst by identifying the scrambling sequence ofthe secondary synchronization signal. Further, each SS block inside theSS burst contains the same PBCH information bits, and when the terminalcan merge the PBCHs within the different SS blocks within the SS burst,the terminal will soft-merge the PBCHs in the two SS blocks received andit is assumed that the currently merged PBCH is any of the foursegments. If the decoding is successful, that is, by CRC check, thecurrently detected PBCH code field is determined, and the current SSblock belongs to SS burst 0 Or SS burst 1.

In addition, since the corresponding SS blocks of different SS burstsets within PBCH TTI also contain the same information bits, thecorresponding SS blocks between SS burst sets can also be combined.

In the present embodiment, using the scrambling sequence of thesynchronization signal to indicate part of SS block index. It is alsopossible to use other synchronization signal characteristics toindicate, for example, the synchronization signal sequence (i.e.,grouping the synchronization signal sequences, the sequences in the samegroup corresponds to the same SS block index) , or the synchronizationsignal mapping mode. Furthermore, the synchronization signal can also bea new synchronization signal.

Example Embodiment 14

This embodiment describes the SS block index information using acombination of the PBCH DMRS sequence, the DMRS frequency domainposition, and the DMRS time domain position.

In the structure shown in FIG. 2, the scheme considers how the basestation indicates to the terminal the 64 SS block index {SS block index0 to 63}: 64 SS block index information and 6 bits. In this embodiment,the PBCH DMRS sequence indication SS block index, using the DMRS timedomain position indicating the least significant bit of the SS blockindex, using the DMRS frequency domain position to indicate the middle 2significant bits of the SS block index, i.e., bits 4, 5.

As shown in FIG. 8, eight PBCH DMRS sequences are defined, correspondingto the upper three bits of the SS block index. The two PBCH DMRS timedomain positions are defined as the time domain position 1 (the previoussymbol of the PBCH), the time domain Position 2 (the last symbol of thePBCH) corresponds to the least significant bit of the SS block; definethe four PBCH DMRS frequency domain positions, which are the frequencydomain positions 1, 2, 3, 4, respectively, corresponding to the SS blockindex 2 active bits in the middle. As shown in Tables 12, 13 and 14.

TABLE 12 SS block index Three most significant bits PBCH DMRS Sequence000 1 001 2 010 3 011 4 100 5 101 6 110 7 111 8

Table 13 shows a mapping between M number of least significant bits (M=1in the example shown in Table 13) and DMRS position.

TABLE 13 SS block index PBCH DMRS time 1 last significant bit domainposition 0 1 1 2

Table 14 shows a relationship between X number of middle bits and thecorresponding DMRS position (X is an integer, with value 2 in theillustrated example of Table 14).

TABLE 14 SS block index PBCH DMRS frequency 2 middle bits domainposition 00 1 01 2 10 3 11 4

When the SS block index is 110001, the base station transmits sequence 7at time domain position 2 and frequency domain position 1 according tothe mapping relationship of the above tables.

At this time, the terminal determines the index of the current SS blockby identifying the time-frequency domain resources of the PBCH DMRS andthe sequence, and corresponding to the corresponding relationship in thetable.

Similar to the present embodiment, the use of DMRS other sequencefeatures such as DMRS scrambling, or synchronization signalcharacteristics (synchronization signal sequence, scrambling sequence ofsynchronization signals), or physical broadcast channel transmissionmode (physical broadcast channel bearer information bits , The cyclicshift of the physical broadcast channel information bits, the scramblingof the physical broadcast channel, and the CRC mask of the physicalbroadcast channel), it is possible to indicate that any valid bit in theSS block index is possible.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example wireless communication method 800.The method 800 may be implemented at a base station (e.g., BS 1002).

The method 800 includes, at 802, mapping timing information in awireless communication network to a signal, wherein the timinginformation includes information related to a synchronization signal(SS) block index and the signal comprises a reference signal on abroadcast channel, and/or a synchronization signal.

As described in the various example embodiments in this document, theinformation related to the SS block index may include at least one of:an SS burst set number, an SS burst number in an SS burst set, a slotnumber in the SS burst, an SS block number in the slot, an SS blocknumber in the SS burst set, an SS block number in the SS burst, the slotnumber in the SS burst set, N least significant bits of the SS blockindex, M most significant bits of the SS block index, or X middlesignificant bits of SS block index, where N, M and X are non-negativeintegers.

In some embodiments, a reference signal that enables channel estimationby the receiving wireless device may be used. For example, in someembodiments, the DMRS may be used as the reference signal. At least oneof the following DMRS features can be used for the indication of the SSBlock index: a DMRS sequence, a combination of DMRS sequences on aplurality of symbols, DMRS scrambling information, DMRS time domainposition, DMRS frequency domain position.

In some embodiments, the mapping between the timing information and thesignal features may be a function of the identity of cell in which themethod 800 is being implemented.

Example Embodiment 15

In this example embodiment, the System Frame Number (SFN) is used toindicate the SS block index information and the PBCH bearer displayinformation.

For example, assume that the system frame number contains 10 bits. Sincethe PBCH TTI is 80 ms and the radio frame length is 10 ms, that is, thePBCH TTI contains 8 radio frames. In the eight radio frames of a PBCHTTI, all PBCHs contain the same SFN indication field, which indicatesthe upper 7 bits (i.e., 7 MSBs, most significant bits) of the SFN. Theindication of 3 LSBs of the SFN should be further considered fordistinguishing different radio frames within the PBCH TTI. The lower 3bits (i.e. 3 LSBs, least significant bits) of the SFN may be used toindicate relevant information of the SS block index. Some implementationoptions include the following cases.

For periodicity of SS burst set no longer than the length of radio frame(e.g., 5 ms, 10 ms), a radio frame contains one or two SS burst set(s).Different index/indication of SS burst set may correspond to a singleradio frame. Thus, index/indication of SS burst set can indicate a partof SFN information (e.g., 3 LSBs), wherein the index/indication of SSburst set within PBCH TTI can be indicated by different RVs of PBCHimplicitly just like LTE. In some embodiments, the scrambling code orCyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) mask of PBCH can also be considered.

Specifically, as shown in the timeline 1200 in FIG. 12, in someembodiments, the SS burst set may have the duration of 10 msec. Thesystem frame number of the SS block is 1110000010. The SFN indicationfield of the PBCH information bit in the SS block indicates an explicitindication 7 most significant bits, i.e. 1110000, where the PBCH of allSS blocks within the PBCH TTI contains the same explicit information;Further, the lower 3 bits are indicated by the redundant version (RV) ofthe PBCH, define the 8 different RVs of PBCH, each SS burst setcorresponds to one RV. For example the 3 LSBs “010” correspond to aspecific RV. In the SS block correspond to 3 LSBs “010”, the basestation uses the specific RV to transmit the corresponding PBCH. Theterminal determines the lower 3 bits of the SFN by identifying the PBCHRV.

For periodicity of SS burst set longer than the length of radio frame(e.g., 20 ms, 40 ms), as shown in the timeline 1300 in FIG. 13, whichshows 20 ms periodicity of SS burst set as an example, there are tworadio frames located in each duration of SS burst set. In such a case,the index/indication of SS burst set by itself cannot give the whole 3LSB bits of the SFN. However, the index of SS block within the SS burstset can be further used for distinguishing the first of the second radioframe in the SS burst set. Similar to the description above, theindex/indication of SS burst set within PBCH TTI can be indicated bydifferent RVs or scrambling codes or Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masksof PBCH implicitly. This way, the index of SS block can be obtained byreceiving signals before decoding the PBCH.

Specifically, in one example embodiment, the system frame number SFN ofthe radio frame described by one SS block is 1110000010 in the case of a20 ms SS burst set cycle. In this case, the SFN indication field of thePBCH information bit in the SS block indicates an explicit indication 7most significant bits, i.e. 1110000, where the PBCH of all SS blockswithin the PBCH TTI contains the same explicit information; further, thelower 3 bits of the SFN are indicated by the redundant version of thePBCH and the SS block index within the SS burst set. Each SS burst setcorresponds to one RV, that is, the first two bits of the three bits ofthe SFN correspond to the RV of a unique PBCH. For example, “010” and“011” correspond to the same PBCH RV (“01”). In this case, the SS blockindex within the SS burst set can further distinguish the leastsignificant bit is 0 or 1, using the predefined mapping relationshipbetween SS block index and the least significant bit of the SFN asfollows, the SS burst set contains 16 SS blocks, and the first eight SSblocks (SS block 0-7) are located in the previous radio frame of the SSburst set. The other 8 SS blocks (SS block 8-15) are located in thesubsequent radio frame of the SS burst set. Then, it is predefined thatSS block 0 -7 correspond to the least significant bit is 0, SS block8-15 correspond to the least significant bit of 1 bit is 1. The basestation uses the RV determined above to transmit the corresponding PBCH.The terminal determines the lower 3 bits of the SFN by identifying thePBCH RV and the SS block index.

For periodicity of SS burst set no shorter than the PBCH TTI (i.e. 80ms, 160 ms). As shown in FIG. 14, there are two PBCH TTI located induration of SS burst set. PBCH content will be changed within one SSburst set when SS blocks belong to different PBCH TTI. At least, PBCHslocated in different (N-3) MSBs of the total N bits SFN.

Further, index/indication of SS burst set will lose its meaning fordistinguishing different radio frames within the PBCH TTI because SSblocks within the PBCH TTI come from the same SS burst set. But SS blockmay locate in different radio frames. Index of SS block within the SSburst set can be used for radio frame distinguishing.

The 3 LSB bits of SFN can be indicated implicitly by SS block indexwithin SS burst set, and/or index/indication of SS burst set within PBCHTTI. For 5 ms/10 ms periodicity of SS burst set, the 3 LSB bits of SFNcan be indicated implicitly by index/indication of SS burst set withinPBCH TTI. For 20 ms/40 ms periodicity of SS burst set, the 3 LSB bits ofSFN can be indicated implicitly by SS block index within SS burst set,and index/indication of SS burst set within PBCH TTI. For 80 ms/160 msperiodicity of SS burst set, the 3 LSB bits of SFN can be indicatedimplicitly by SS block index within SS burst set. In theseimplementations, index/indication of SS burst set within PBCH TTI can beindicated by different RVs or Scrambling codes or Cyclic RedundancyCheck (CRC) masks of PBCH implicitly can also be considered.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart for an example method 800 of wirelesscommunications.

The method 800 includes, at 802, mapping timing information in awireless communication network to a signal, wherein the timinginformation includes information related to a synchronization signal(SS) block index and the signal comprises a reference signal on abroadcast channel, and/or a synchronization signal.

The method 800 includes, at 804, transmitting the signal to include atleast a part of the information related to the SS block index.

In some embodiments, the synchronization signal sequence or thesynchronization signal scrambling information may be used for indicatingthe SS block index information.

In some embodiments, a broadcast channel transmission mode may be usedfor indicting the SS block index information. For example, thetransmission mode may be information bits carried by the broadcastchannel, a cyclic shift of the broadcast channel information bits,scrambling of the broadcast channel, or cyclic redundancy check mask ofthe broadcast channel.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod 900. The method 900 may be implemented by a user device (e.g.,user device 1106).

The method 900 includes, at 902, receiving, by a receiving device, asignal comprising a mapping of timing information in a wirelesscommunication network, wherein the timing information includesinformation related to a synchronization signal (SS) block index and thesignal comprises a reference signal on a broadcast channel, and/or asynchronization signal.

The method 900 includes, at 904, recovering the SS block index from atleast a part of the signal. The method 900 may further includerecovering SS block index information from the signal, where theinformation is indicated using one of the techniques described herein.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example of a wireless communicationapparatus 1000. The apparatus 1000 includes a processor 1010 that may beconfigured to implement one of the techniques described herein,transceiver electronics 1015 that is able to transmit signals or receivesignals using the antenna(s) 1020, and one or more memories 1005 thatmay be used to store instructions executable by the processor 1010and/or data storage.

FIG. 11 shows an example wireless communications network 1100. Thenetwork 1100 includes a base station BS 1102 and multiple user devices1106 being able to communicate with each other over a transmissionmedium 1104. The transmissions from the BS 1102 to the devices 1106 aregenerally called downlink or downstream transmissions. The transmissionsfrom the devices 1106 to the BS 1102 are generally called uplink orupstream transmissions. The transmission medium 1104 typically iswireless (air) medium. The BS 1102 may also be communicatively coupledwith other base stations or other equipment in the network via abackhaul or an access network connection 1112.

It will be appreciated that technique that provide a method fortransmitting timed information, which can be used to indicate the SSblock index information by a combination of multiple instructions aredisclosed. It can effectively reduce the blind check overhead caused bythe implicit indication of PBCH and effectively reduce the capacity ofthe single instruction mode Demand, and by defining different fordifferent cells.

The disclosed and other embodiments, modules and the functionaloperations described in this document can be implemented in digitalelectronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware,including the structures disclosed in this document and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. The disclosedand other embodiments can be implemented as one or more computer programproducts, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructionsencoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to controlthe operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readablemedium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readablestorage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting amachine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or morethem. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them. A propagated signal is an artificially generated signal, e.g.,a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, thatis generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this document can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storingcomputer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatilememory, media and memory devices, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks;magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor andthe memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purposelogic circuitry.

While this document contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed orof what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specificto particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in thisdocument in the context of separate embodiments can also be implementedin combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features thatare described in the context of a single embodiment can also beimplemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitablesub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asub-combination or a variation of a sub-combination. Similarly, whileoperations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, thisshould not be understood as requiring that such operations be performedin the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that allillustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Only a few examples and implementations are disclosed. Variations,modifications, and enhancements to the described examples andimplementations and other implementations can be made based on what isdisclosed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:receiving, by a terminal device from a base station, a reference signaland information bits on a broadcast channel, wherein the referencesignal is associated with N least significant bits of a synchronizationsignal block index, and wherein the information bits on the broadcastchannel include M most significant bits (MSBs) of information indicatingthe synchronization signal block index, M and N being an integer greaterthan 1; and determining, by the terminal device, the synchronizationsignal block index from a combination of the reference signal and theinformation bits carried by the broadcast channel.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the reference signal comprises a demodulation referencesignal.
 3. The method of claim 1, comprising: determining, by theterminal device, the N least significant bits of the synchronizationsignal block index from a mapping between the synchronization signalblock index and a sequence of the reference signal.
 4. A method forwireless communication, comprising: transmitting, by a base station, areference signal and information bits on a broadcast channel to enable aterminal device to determine a synchronization signal block index,wherein the reference signal is associated with N least significant bitsof the synchronization signal block index, and wherein the informationbits on the broadcast channel include M most significant bits (MSBs) ofinformation indicating the synchronization signal block index, M and Nbeing an integer greater than 1, and wherein the synchronization signalblock index is provided using a combination of the reference signal andthe information bits carried by the broadcast channel.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the reference signal comprises a demodulation referencesignal.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the N least significant bitsof the synchronization signal block index are determined based on amapping between the synchronization signal block index and a sequence ofthe reference signal.
 7. A device for wireless communication, comprisinga processor that is configured to: receive, from a base station, areference signal and information bits on a broadcast channel, whereinthe reference signal is associated with N least significant bits of asynchronization signal block index, and wherein the information bits onthe broadcast channel include M most significant bits (MSBs) ofinformation indicating the synchronization signal block index, M and Nbeing an integer greater than 1; and determine the synchronizationsignal block index from a combination of the reference signal and theinformation bits carried by the broadcast channel.
 8. The device ofclaim 7, wherein the reference signal comprises a demodulation referencesignal.
 9. The device of claim 7, wherein the processor is configuredto: determine the N least significant bits of the synchronization signalblock index from a mapping between the synchronization signal blockindex and a sequence of the reference signal.
 10. A device for wirelesscommunication, comprising a processor that is configured to: transmit areference signal and information bits on a broadcast channel to enable aterminal device to determine a synchronization signal block index,wherein the reference signal is associated with N least significant bitsof the synchronization signal block index, and wherein the informationbits on the broadcast channel include M most significant bits (MSBs) ofinformation indicating the synchronization signal block index, M and Nbeing an integer greater than 1, and wherein the synchronization signalblock index is provided using a combination of the reference signal andthe information bits carried by the broadcast channel.
 11. The device ofclaim 10, wherein the reference signal comprises a demodulationreference signal.
 12. The device of claim 10, wherein the N leastsignificant bits of the synchronization signal block index aredetermined based on a mapping between the synchronization signal blockindex and a sequence of the reference signal.